Virtual Trade Shows: The Less Explored Virtual Reality

In his 1993 essay, The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era, professor, science fiction writer and Hugo Award winner,  Vernor Vinge mentions: Within 30 years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. According to him, Homo sapiens will become dull bystanders in history of evolution. This view is in contrast with the famous futurist Ray Kurzweil, who believes that while artificial intelligence will make humans obsolete, it will not make our consciousness irrelevant. The singularity won't destroy us, Kurzweil says. Instead, it will immortalize us.

Perhaps, this is the reason why virtual trade shows and events have not kept up the same pace of acceleration as the digitization of our lifestyle. And according to the recent research, sponsored by Lynch Exhibits Inc., Impact Unlimited Inc., and Altus Corp, virtual events are unlikely to replace live trade shows and events anytime soon. In fact, 68 percent of respondents who have participated in virtual events say they’d rather host a live event, most notably because they “miss the energy of a live event“ and “attendees seemed less engaged during virtual events.”

"Whereas even a few short years ago, many exhibit and event professionals claimed virtual events were the future of our industry, it seems the novelty may have worn off — or perhaps the hurdles outweigh the perceived payoffs." 47 percent of the respondents personally felt that virtual events offer only “little” or “moderate” potential, while 10 percent believe they’re nothing more than a hype. I believe, this is where human consciousness come into play and virtual reality will never be able to simulate actual human interactions. In his 1989 book, The Emperor's New Mind, Oxford physicist Roger Penrose claims that the classical physics ruling neurobiology cannot explain consciousness. The mind, he declared, relies on the baffling mechanics of quantum physics. Most recently, physicist Efstratios Manousakis at Florida State University showed that certain peculiarities of visual perception are most easily explained by quantum mechanics.

If consciousness is indeed a quantum phenomenon, then virtual reality will have to wait for a long while for engineers, scientists and trade show exhibitors to get the hang of it.

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